Trader Joe’s – Fort Cellars Merlot – 2012 – Wine Review

There’s a hint of vinegar on the cork and a medium-dark ruby color in the glass. The aroma of a crude red wine fills the air in the glass. Adding to the impression of a crude red wine is the dryish mouth feel of tannins, eventually leaving a semi-arid climate on the roof of the mouth. A more than bearable taste follows that. This is a classic table wine. A wine that’s not “refined” but ready for a tussle with a hearty bowl of stew and a chunk of bread torn from a long loaf. How would it stand up to a bowl of chili? The thought had never crossed my mind until now. Probably very well.

February 11, 2016

Some wines are meant to be sipped by themselves over idle conversation. This wine wasn’t made for that purpose. It’s a table wine to complement simple favorable food. This is a wine for a farmer, construction worker or similar callus-producing occupation, where the worker comes home cold, hungry and needing to relieve the aches in their body.

Hey! And what’s wrong with that? The only thing wrong is that few of us actually do any work like that. But then, some night after coming in from an hour of raking leaves from the lawn, put on your plaid flannel shirt and pretend.

I took my own advice using the wine to first deglaze a pot roast (recipe here) and then accompany the same at dinner. The dual purpose wine worked wonders. So I guess the calluses (location not mentioned in polite company), cultivated over many years of arduous TV watching in plaid flannel shirts qualify for this wine.

Slightly more seriously, I could not find other reviews for this wine on the net. Could this be the first review? Going out on a limb, in my opinion this is one of the few (maybe the only) inexpensive American wines that’s actually pretty good. If the quality holds up over the next several purchases this is a winning 5 dollar wine.

Thanks for taking the time to review this wine. We are attempting the 2013 tonight. We did decide to decant it though. I think its a good idea to do so. Agree, not a lot of fruit there, but it a great plaid shirt or plaid jammies dinner wine. We made a Moroccan chicken “tagine” in a cast iron skillet. I know, I know most Moroccans would not approve, we we left there 3+ years ago.

Ah! So that explains why you don’t do wine reviews. I guess “liquor stores” still exist for wine and spirits. I don’t think they fall under communist though. It’s more like old fashion greed and corruption.